


Music and Lyrics

by IcarusWings87



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: F/F, nozomi isn't a brave cinammon roll, they're gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-10
Updated: 2016-12-10
Packaged: 2018-09-07 17:56:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8810488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IcarusWings87/pseuds/IcarusWings87
Summary: Nozomi writes Eli a letter every day. The problem is that she never signs her name. Will Eli ever know how Nozomi truly feels about her?





	

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a prompt given to me on Tumblr. I really liked how this turned out. 
> 
> The Prompt was 'Love Song.' I changed the title from my tumblr post, but I can do that since I wrote it. ;)

Setting her pen down on the desk, Nozomi surveyed the letter that she had carefully written. Her eyes flickered over the page as she read over it again, making sure that she didn’t accidentally put any obvious clues about herself inside it. Once she was satisfied with what had been written she brought the pen in her hand to the bottom of the page and signed it, not with her name, but with a small calligraphy heart. She smiled at the detail and returned the cap to her pen before replacing it in the cup on her desk.

Nozomi felt her palms sweat slightly and shook her head.

“I’ve done this so many times, why am I still nervous?” Nozomi mused aloud to as she wiped her hands on the edge of her skirt. Letting her fingertips linger on the hem, she fidgeted in her chair before taking a deep breath.

It was the first day of the new semester. She’d been looking forward to school for the whole break. But it wasn’t because of the subjects she would study. It was because of whom she would see when she got to school. But even with that joy in her heart, she was still very nervous about the letter.

The note had been written on sky blue paper of moderate quality. The ink was black and full. The penmanship was the best that Nozomi could muster. The note was no different than any other one she’d written before now. She’d started writing them in the middle of the last semester and since then she’d written more than she could count. One for each morning she she’d realized her feelings. One letter each morning that she’d allow herself to spill her feelings of love onto a page, pouring her heart into the letter each time, telling the person who would receive it exactly how she felt about them; each time telling them how much she loved something specific about them. And when she was done would add a few lyrics of a love song she’d written. The words would come to her mind. Eventually she’d have a whole song. It was an amateur attempt for sure but the little songs she created were specifically for that person. Music conveyed more than words sometimes and she had hoped that the extra touch allowed her feelings to reach the person she loved the most in the world. It couldn’t hurt, Nozomi reasoned.

But there was one problem with these letters: Nozomi only ever signed them with a heart. She never signed them with her name.

Sometimes she accidentally signed her name to the letters and would panic until she was able to rewrite the letter appropriately. Sometimes she did want to sign them with her name, to remove the anonymity of her feelings and throw caution to the wind. Those times she had hope and courage but today wasn’t that day. Sighing to herself, Nozomi slipped the now dried letter into its matching envelope and sealed the flap closed with a small fox sticker. She’d found the stickers online and had ordered them precisely for this venture.

She turned the envelope over in her hands three times before bringing the envelope to her lips and kissing the fox sticker.

“To another day together,” Nozomi whispered even though she was the only one who lived in the small apartment. “I love you, Elichi.”

—

The crowd at school was the usual bunch of girls and as usual Eli was thirty minutes early to school. She came in through the side doors and made her way to the lockers at the entrance. Slipping off her outdoor shoes, Eli reached for the door of her locker and opened it. The moment she did an avalanche of paper came pouring out. Eli sighed and shook her head as she stared at the paper envelopes that were littering the floor at her feet. She was no longer shocked by this occurrence It was like this every morning since she’d transferred to Otonokizaka. Dozens of girls would try their luck each morning and place letters of admiration and love confessions in her locker in the hopes that she would read it and accept it. It had gotten to the point of ridiculousness right before Christmas when they had started to pour out of her locker when she opened it.

Reaching into her locker, Eli pulled out her school shoes and set them on the ground before slipping them on. Her calm demeanor regarding the letters only earned her curious looks from her classmates but no one stared for long because even though she was admired by most of the school for her appearance and academics, her icy gaze still frightened quite a few of them.

Eli stooped down and began to pick up the mess of letters and place them into a pile. When she had first started receiving them, she had tried replying to each one, letting them down easy. But but eventually the amount of letters became too unwieldy and she had to give up that habit in order to keep up with her actual school studies. Eli couldn’t say that she liked the attention from these girls.

“I don’t even know half of them…” Eli murmured as she picked up the last few. “You’d think they wouldn’t declare their love for me since they don’t even bother to talk to me.”

Her hand stopped and hovered above the last letter on the ground. It was a sky blue envelope and it immediately caught her attention. It looked the same as so many of the others like it that she’d gotten before now. And while Eli didn’t generally have any interest in these letters this one was always different. She recognized the familiar scrawl of her name on the front of the letter (Eli) and when she finally picked up the envelope and turned it over she smiled fondly at the little fox sticker on the back. Foxes were her favorite animal, after all. This person had always paid attention to little things and that was reflected in that person’s letters as well.

Standing up, Eli placed all of the letter except the familiar one into her bag. (She’d recycle the paper from them later. No use hurting mother nature just because she didn’t want the feelings in the letters). She put away her outdoor shoes in her now clear locker and then began, as was her morning tradition, to read the letter in the sky blue envelope with the fox sticker on it.

As she read the contents of the letter, her smile grew wider. She could feel her cheeks heat up with the light embarrassment of the attention but she laughed as the writer of the letter complimented the ‘cute way’ that Eli focused on math tests during her classes, even going so far as to tease her lightly about how she’d stick her tongue out just a inch as she worked on the particularly hard problems on the test. Even if it was silly, the writer thought it was endearing and named it as ‘#189’ on her list of what made Eli lovable to her. At the bottom of the letter were words she always looked forward to the most. The song lyrics. Eli had saved them in her scrap book. And this was just a continuation on the current song the person was writing.

 

_**From the moment we met,** _

_**The melody of my heart has been ringing with premonitions** _

_**It can’t be stopped, it won’t be stopped – why?** _

__

“Always a love song,” she chuckled quietly.

Eli’s gaze flitted to the signature on the letter and for the first time frowned. She was always disappointed that the sender never signed her love letters with her name. It was always a simple heart.

“Something wrong, Elichi?” a familiar voice asked from behind her, unintentionally frightening an unsuspecting Eli.

Eli’s screamed loudly, causing the other person to scream and the two collided, knocking all of the book bags in both of their hands onto the floor. The contents from inside spilled everywhere, creating a mess of papers at their feet. Doing her best to catch her breath, Eli found herself face to face with Nozomi, who look just as startled as Eli had been.

“Sorry, sorry!” Nozomi smiled sheepishly as she saw the mess they had made. She bent down and began to gather up her and Eli’s things. “I didn’t mean to scare ya but ya looked so serious. I hope nothing is wrong.”

“Nothing’s wrong. I was just—” Eli’s heartbeat accelerated as she saw Nozomi’s hand reaching absently for the letter she’d been reading. Eli dodged forward and grabbed the letter from Nozomi, clutching it close to her.

Nozomi blinked. Unsure what had happened until she saw the letter in Eli’s hands. She coughed awkwardly before pointedly ignoring the letter in Eli’s hand.

Eli looked relieved now that the letter was safely in her hands. She tucked it away and joined Nozomi in gathering the rest of their papers.

“Elichi is very clumsily. And easily frightened,” Nozomi teased as she picked up the math notes and handed them to Eli. “These are yours.”

“Thanks,” Eli murmured as she took the notes and put them back into her own bag. She picked up a few sheets of paper near her and looked at them.

She saw that they were Nozomi’s English notes and was about to hand them back to her friend when she stopped to stare at them. The lettering in the margins of the page seemed familiar. She squinted a bit and her gaze followed the line of letters into a doodle on the side of the page where a heart had been drawn. Eli’s eyes widened and her heart stopped as her mind flew back to the letter she’d just been reading before Nozomi had shown up. It then began thinking about the countless letters like it that she’d gotten and each time it had been signed with the exact same heart symbol. The heart that Nozomi had doodled on her notes.

Eli felt like she couldn’t breath. Her heart had started beating again. No, it wasn’t beating. It was pounding. She looked up at Nozomi, taking in her friend for what felt like the first time again. Nozomi who was her best friend. Nozomi who was the one who had written the letters that had made such a deep impression on her since they had first arrive. Nozomi’s letters - the only letter that Eli would read. The letter she looked forward to reading in the morning. She couldn’t believe it. It was almost too good to be true. The letter had come from someone so close to her and she’d not realized it.

The other thing that Eli didn’t realize was that she had been staring at Nozomi for a few minutes. Nozomi cleared her throat loudly and Eli blushed as her blue eyes connected with the deep turqouise of Nozomi’s.

“Something wrong?” Nozomi asked, timidly. Eli thought that Nozomi’s cheeks had gained a small tint of coloring to them as they continued to look at each other. The moment was too intense and Eli was the first to look away, embarrassing herself further by the way she was now acting.

“N-no.” Eli said quickly, trying to cover her tracks. She forced the papers into Nozomi’s hands without looking at her. “These are yours.”

“Oh, thanks,” Nozomi said, with a small smile and then ducked her head, embarrassed that Eli had been staring at her.

The two girls were so focused on cleaning up the last of the spilled papers that they almost missed the class bell as it rang signalling that they only had five minutes to get to class.

“We better get to class,” Nozomi said quietly.

“Yeah,” Eli added but neither of them moved first.

Finally Nozomi stood up and smoothed her skirt. Eli followed suit. One more awkward moment followed between the two as Eli rubbed her arm with her free hand. She’d shouldered her bag and felt like she wanted to say something but when you just found out that your best friend had been sending you love letters for months what exactly did you say?

“You sure nothing’s wrong?” Nozomi asked, calmly. It was odd for Eli to be so introvert with her. Nothing had happened between them, had it?

“Everything’s fine,” Eli exhaled and offered Nozomi a reassuring smile. “Let’s get to class. Don’t want to break our attendance record for my clumsy mistake, do we?”

Nozomi giggled and nodded. She headed towards their shared homeroom and Eli felt herself grin more brightly as she followed.

—

The weeks followed as the always had. The letters filled Eli’s locker each morning and amidst them Eli would find the familiar sky blue envelope. Eli would read it. Then she would go to class with Nozomi. And aside from the one awkward moment they shared at the beginning of the semester, nothing changed between them.

This fact was both comforting and frustrating to Nozomi. On the one hand, Eli was still her best friend whom she adored, but on the other hand she never had the courage to tell her how she felt without hiding behind the anonymity of an unsigned letter. As she made her way to school the next morning, her hand automatically went to the envelope in her bag.

“Maybe I should tell her today?” Nozomi asked as she waited at the crosswalk for the light to turn. She was gazing at the clouds wondering if they had an answer, but they never did. She shook her. She knew she wouldn’t do it. She’d do what she always did. She’d arrive an hour early for school and place the letter in Eli’s locker as she always did when no one else other than the teachers were there.

The light changed and she crossed the street. After another few minutes she was at the gates of Otonokizaka and she made her way to the locker area. She opened Eli’s locker and placed the letter inside and closed the door gently. She was always the first one to put her letter inside. In her mind this had a special significance but it probably meant nothing. Letting her hand rest against Eli’s locker door for a moment longer, Nozomi sighed and turned around to walk to her own locker to change into her indoor shoes. She might as well head to the study room and read for a while until it was time to greet Eli that morning.

But when Nozomi opened her locker, she was surprised to find a small purple note folded and proper against her school school inside. She reached for it curiously. She wasn’t Eli, she wasn’t supposed to get letters so the appearance of the note (especially that early) and that fact alone intrigued Nozomi. Unfolding the note, she read it aloud.

 

_**‘Without a sound, without a sign** _

_**Our fate changes silently** _

_**At the thought of the coming future, my heartbeat quickens’** _

__

Nozomi didn’t know what to think of the words she’d just read.

“Curious.” She murmurs as she read them again. They seemed familiar to her but she couldn’t place them. But that couldn’t be the whole message. There was no signature at the bottom. She flipped over the note and saw that at the bottom of the paper, written in neat letters was one final sentence: ‘Meet me on the roof.’

Unable to contain her curiosity, Nozomi changed her shoes and headed to the roof. On the way, she decided to reread the note over and over. By the time she had reached the door of the roof, it suddenly clicked where she knew those words from.

She’d wrote them.

These were some of the same lyrics she’d written and placed in her letters for Eli. She stopped as she reached out for the handle to the roof door. Her heart was beating quickly. Where had this person gotten them? Had she pulled them out of some trashcan that Eli had thrown away the letters in? Was this all a horrible joke on their part? She didn’t know what was happening. But she knew that the person who had written that note and left it in her locker was waiting for her on the other side of the door.

Nozomi felt tears prickle at the edge of her eyes, threatening to fall. This wasn’t funny at all. That person had no right to steal those lyrics and use them against her. She was hurt, but she was also angry now. She’d go out there and she’d give them a piece of her mind.

She inhaled deeply, gathering her strength and she forced the door open quickly intent on yelling at the person on the other side.

“You have no right to go through my things! Those were privat—”

Nozomi’s loud words were silenced when she was met with the sight of Eli standing in the center of the roof with a guitar strap around her shoulder and holding the guitar that Nozomi had only seen at the Ayase house. And Eli was smiling at Nozomi as she had never smiled at her before. Nozomi was pretty sure she was dreaming. This couldn’t be right, could it? Nozomi could feel her jaw working, trying to move her mouth and make it say something. But nothing came out except for a mumbled ‘What?’ that came out of Nozomi’s mouth.

The words turned out not to matter because at the same moment, Eli’s smiled turned to an expression of concentration as she started to play a soft acoustic melody. And after a few chords Eli was singing. Nozomi didn’t know that she could sing.

Letting the words and music wrap around her, Nozomi could feel her angry tears from earlier turn into tears of overwhelming joy. As Eli played, she made something that Nozomi thought was impossible possible. Eli had taken all of the lyrics that Nozomi had written and placed inside the letters and turned them into an actual song. She’d written music and she was singing the song that Nozomi had written. No, it was a song they had now written together.

Nozomi was stunned and brought a hand to her mouth as her tears streamed down her cheeks. Somehow, Eli figured it out - and she didn’t hate her.

 

_**B** _ **_efore I knew it, my true emotions grew too large to contain_ **

**_It’s painful to never do more than dream of it_ **

**_I want you to be mine!_ **

**_I don’t want to be bewildered by your gentle eyes_ **

**_Accept all my love for you as it is, Please!_ **

****

**_Ring out_ **

**_Shall I name this heart-rending pain “Snow halation”?_ **

**_I can’t wait for our feelings to resonate; It’s frustrating, but it’s a pure-hearted devotion called love_ **

**_Even in this mild fever, I can’t hesitate_ **

**_I’ll accept the courage to dive in; it’s about to start!_ **

****

As Eli sang the last of the words with passion, she began rocking out on her acoustic guitar as the melody picked up and entered the final musical break. Nozomi couldn’t help but laugh at the little dance that the blonde had thrown into her playing.

When the last note had been played, Nozomi found herself speechless and she was staring at an out of breath Eli who was staring back at her.

It was Nozomi who broke the silence, her voice breaking slightly due to her tears. “I-I…didn’t know you could play the guitar.”

“I can,” Eli huffed a bit, standing up straightly again. She flashed Nozomi a charming smile. “I learned when I was little. Guess you don’t know everything about me.” Eli was laughing and it caused Nozomi to smiled more brightly. She loved Eli’s laugh.

“Did you like it?” Eli asked, shifting the guitar on its strap so that it was out of the way and resting against her back.

“I did.” Nozomi nodded feverently, but she found that  she couldn’t look Eli in the eyes any longer. “It was a beautiful song.” She said quietly.

Eli chuckled again and scratched the back of her neck sheepishly. “Thanks, but I had a amazing lyrics to work with.”

Closing her eyes tightly, Nozomi could feel her heart becoming filled with a warm sensation but part of her still didn’t believe that that moment was happening. She took a deep breath and laughed wryly to herself.

“I don’t understand.”

Eli raised an eyebrow in question. “Understand what?”

“This.” Nozomi opened her eyes and gestured to Eli. “You. Why did you do this?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Eli asked incredulously, in the way that only Eli was capable of doing. “I’m giving you an answer.”

“An answer?” Nozomi’s face flushed hotly, her breath catching in her throat as she tried not to let herself hope anymore than she already had done.

“Nozomi,” Eli stepped closer as she said her name. Reaching out to take Nozomi’s hands in her own, Eli squeezed them gently and tilted her head down, trying to catch Nozomi’s gaze. “I know it was you who sent the letters.”

“B-but how did you—”

“I go to class with you every day. We study almost every day. I know your handwriting, silly.” Eli laughed lightly but fidgeted on the spot. Her nervousness was showing but Eli continued to be brave and held fast onto Nozomi’s hands.

“Oh.” Nozomi swallowed. She felt the need to make an excuse, to explain. She was caught in her own plan and she didn’t know how to react. She was looking anywhere but at Eli. “Listen, it wasn’t serious. I understand if you don’t feel that way about me. I just—”

“No. Don’t do that.” Eli said, bringing one of her hands up to Nozomi’s chin. She used it to tilt Nozomi’s face up towards her, forcing her to look at her.

Nozomi’s mouth felt dry as she gazed into Eli’s deep blue eyes. Eyes the color of the letters she had been sending. Nozomi could feel herself thinking that the height difference between them was more pronounced this year. She has to tilt her head up further than usual to look at her friend. But she didn’t mind the difference. She liked it. And Eli also enjoyed the view she had as she looked down upon Nozomi’s beautiful face.

“Don’t deny it. Don’t put down your feelings and don’t belittle yourself. I don’t want you to.” Eli commented softly, leaning in instinctually. “I know you like me. You’ve said it so many times but you never signed your name. And now I can finally answer you. I like you too. No, I love you.”

Nozomi blinked. She couldn’t have heard that correctly. Her heart was pounding again. Her hands were starting to shake but Eli tightened her grip on them to still them. Nozomi can only feel the warmth coming from her. She finally smiles again.

“When did you find out?” Nozomi asks, quietly. She can’t help it, she presses her forehead up against Eli’s and rests there. Eli continued to smile while looking like she was about to cry too.

“I wasn’t very quick on the uptake. It was that on that day that I ran into you and all our notes fell on the floor.” Eli said bashfully. “I’m sorry it took me so long. Forgive me?”

“Of course. If you forgive me for not being brave,” Nozomi asked, shifting her weight onto her other foot. “I never thought you’d know. I’m a coward. I only hoped that one day you’d know how I felt. But now you’ve known for weeks. Why didn’t you say something that day?”

“Well, I was waiting for you to say something or own up to it.” Eli explained, tilting her head to the side. “But I guess I was also scared. This is new territory for me. I’ve never had a best friend before, let alone someone that I love this much. It took that realization of finding out that the person that had written all of those wonderful lyrics to me and the devoted letters was so close to me to gain the courage to do this. I found my own feelings over that time and I knew as I was writing that song that I was sure of them. This feels right. More right than anything.”

‘Eli’s smile is blindingly beautiful,’ Nozomi thought to herself. She’s laughing despite her renewed tears. But they are happy tears.

“And we make beautiful music together.” Eli brought her thumb up to Nozomi’s face, using it to wipe away a few tears. Her voice is light at first as she begins to hum a few lines from the song she’d just played. It felt like they were the only two people left in the world as Eli looked at her. “Will you go out with me?”

It’s in Eli’s gaze that Nozomi finally found her courage. Standing on her tiptoes, she tilted her face upwards and brushed her lips gently against Eli’s. The warmth was fleeting but Nozomi became braver in an instant and captures Eli’s lips with hers in an innocent and wonderful first kiss.

“So is that a yes?” Eli asked as she pulled away, her expression slightly dazed.

Nozomi hummed in ascent as she smiles and it was Eli’s turn to kiss her. The kiss lasted longer that time but when they break away they are both smiling and clinging to one another.

The two girls can’t help but begin to sing as they enjoy the last minutes of quiet before they have to go to class.

 

_**When you feel troubled** _

_**I’ll come running right away, wanting to hug you tightly,** _

_**Wherever you are, no matter where, I’ll Fly High!** _


End file.
